Interview with Neil Kramer - Author of 'Unfoldment'

BB chatted to Neil about this latest book and his work and path so far....

BB. You’re obviously a seeker of personal transformation, willing to invest enough of yourself and your time into investigating a wide range of mystical and esoteric concepts and traditions – some of them quite obscure – what motivated you to go down this road and what sustains you when obstacles appear?

NK. My motivation for mystical study and practice was due in part to my natural suspicions regarding the mainstream reality paradigm. I just didn't buy the story of reality at any level - political, cultural, or scientific. So I looked for better perspectives... and found them. When obstacles come my way, I call to mind that there are always a number of approaches to any seemingly impassable brick wall. You can run away, break it down, spray graffiti on it, mentally deconstruct its existence, transform it alchemically into something else, make yourself into a ghost and pass through it. There are many angles to contemplate. In this way, all obstacles are opportunities for exercising one's capacity for lateral thinking and creative resolution.

BB. The back cover of your latest work ‘ The Unfoldment’ states that the book contains a ‘body of sacred wisdom and an elegant system of spiritual practice that puts real power and real magic into the hands of those who seek a path of awakening’. As many of these concepts have been touched upon within the pages of many a ‘quick fix’ new age manual – do you think you’ll find a large enough audience of those willing to embark on the real path of transformation (rather than the ones offering  overnight change)? 

NK. I think people are becoming painfully aware that quick fix books don't really work. You know the kind, the seven magical keys to success with women or business or happiness or whatever. Simply stated, we have to work hard on our inner self if we want to engage with the real juice of existence. We have to de-condition from the untruths that we have been tutored in, purify our mind, constantly evolve, and be willing to peer into the thickest darkness of the self. Only then can we begin true transformation and live the kind of life we want. With all the intense misery and confusion in the world right now, I know that more and more people are ready to push their boundaries further, so they lead more fulfilling lives. These are the people I most enjoy speaking with.

BB. The Unfoldment also talks about the 7 densities of being. Could you say a little about what this system describes? As is the case with many spiritual traditions, is the 4th ‘density’ the one around which the others hinge?

NK. In my reality model, there are seven densities of being, a bit like dimensions. They enfold each other. The second enfolds the first. The third enfolds the second and first etc. Yet it is more to do with the refinement of consciousness than actual physical spaces. The fourth density is the immediate enfolding realm that surrounds our familiar third density. It is from here that all our experiences of transcendence, magic, and the extraordinary arise. Rudimentary mystics might've called this the spirit realm. Metaphysically speaking, we can say that it's more complex (and interesting) than that. The fourth density certainly represents a major threshold of conscious attainment. You can't really go into it with any lucidity or consistency with a sloppy, unrefined consciousness. So all the lessons of the third density are aimed at helping to cultivate a deeper and more elegant mode of conscious operation.

BB. There’s an idea that our current problems, numerous and diverse as they are, all stem from a ‘break’ in our connection to the natural world and our true place in it  – the death of the imaginal realm as it were – do you believe that a return to archaic tradition and immersion in the mystical can heal this rift? If so, what is the first practical step?

NK. A return to certain traditional values of kinship, self-sovereignty, and a profound connection with the natural environment would definitely be a good idea right now. But we have to create new paradigms, not simply try to re-discover or return to the old ones. That would be too easy and not provide real resolution, it'd just make us feel better. What we can do right now is to begin forming networks of communities that are increasingly independent from the mainstream grid, both in terms of power, resources, politics, and philosophy. It's good to create a situation for yourself where, in the event of a mainstream social collapse (gradual or swift), you could gather with your strong, compassionate, well-resourced, spiritual kinsmen and thrive. Psychological and emotional preparedness are more significant than anything else in this respect. We have thousands of years of mystical perspectives, knowledge and techniques to help us achieve this very thing. Though the particulars of each mystical tradition are somewhat singular, the principles are - at the higher level - entirely universal. There is one truth. To make contact with it we have to begin clearing away our inauthenticity now - not later. This is the best way to prepare oneself for surfing the end times. What an adventure!

Despite the rain....

Despite the never ending 40 odd days of rain endured my little veg patch has managed to so far yield some very tasty potatoes (that I had for dinner tonight!), with the promise of broad beans, aubergines, french beans and tomatoes on the way! 


Hooray for the return of the sun!

Interview with Karrie Fransman - Creator of The House That Groaned

BB had a chance to catch up with artist Karrie Fansman recently…dig below!

Hey Karrie,

You're gaining ground as a graphic novelist (if you term yourself that way), but what got you into the genre in the first place? What was your background?

Ha ha, yes I like the term 'comic creator'- more down and dirty, although 'graphic novelist' does have it benefits if you're trying to appear sophisticated! I was reared on picture books and a bit of the Beno and grew up scribbling stories, but only discovered the comic medium in a conscious way when I was 22 and read Ghost World. An amazing depiction of a female relationship by a male comic artists. I fell instantly in love and knew I had to make them for myself. I didn't let the minor inconvenience of never having been to art college get in the way!

Do you have a particular inspiration or hero?

My all time favourite comic artist is an American indi artist called Eleanor Davis- her smallest sketch book scribbles have more narrative in them than some whole books. But she hasn't, to my knowledge, yet written a long graphic novel and I would give my arm (o.k...maybe just the left one) for her to do one. BUT I normally exercise caution in having too many heroes from the same genre as myself as it's much easier to get inspiration from different sources. So I'd say my childhood picture book artists- Kit Williams and Maurice Sendak are my all time creative crushes.

Your latest work THTG explores some fairly stark realities of modern life - are you reciting personal experience or is it more of a commentary on your vision of urban life?

Well the original inspiration was not urban life but our material bodies and our anxieties with them. I guess that has it's roots in my personal experience as I almost died of meningitis as a child and have always been a bit morbidly fascinated with our physicality. The house was supposed to symbolise a slowly decaying body and the isolation we feel from each-other and the world. But most of the big newspapers that reviewed it emphasised the isolated, urban living. That's fine! I like it when people interoperate the book in their own way!

Do you see your work, and indeed the graphic novel as having an important function to play; for example, a great way to unpack important issues for a lay audience?

I believe an artist's sole responsibility is to engage the reader/viewer emotionally. Comics are fairly cheap to produce and consume and are accessible to all regardless of age, education or nationality and have the power to reach a wider audience with their messages... whatever that may be! u there is a trend to do graphic memoirs and re-tellings of classic stories. There's even a 'graphic medicine' movement that emphasises doctor and patient experiences of illness through the comic medium. My personal emphasis is on sociological issues, psychology and gender. To sum it up in a nut shell!

Are you already onto your next work - any hints?

Ha ha! My next book is still at a very early stage but i'm incredibly excited about it! It will play with the form and language of comics and seep off the page and into the digital worlds while telling a dark tale of friendship, power, destruction and creativity. In the mean time I'm doing reportage comics for The Guardian and Psychologies magazine, working on some short story commissions and have been invited in July to the Interregional Hayes Festival in Beirut. Very excited!

Finally, are you a fan of the veritable veg we've named our store after? If so, what's your fave way to eat it!

Certainly! I'd say baked, sliced and with Crème fraîche and dill on top. nyum.

Get the book here at Beetroot Books

Rain, Rain and Rain

Oh since they shouted about drought it seems it hasn’t stopped raining. Mind you if a spell needs to be cast then what better way to do it in England than talk about the weather? Anytime anyone makes a proclamation about what it’s going to do or worse, has an expectation about how it will turn out, you can guarantee that what actually happens will be counter to what is desired. We just don’t learn! And since it is April it’s not like we’ve not heard that tune about showers before.

But it’s all good stuff. Things are going in to the ground almost daily here at Beetroot HQ; beetroots (you wouldn’t expect otherwise would you?), French beans, Broad beans, red onions, spring onions, aubergines, basil, mint and potatoes, and they all need lots lovely water and of course sunshine (hoping for more of that this summer)!

So best not too get too down in the mouth about the weather, it’s as comedian Billy Connelly says: ‘there is not bad weather, only the wrong clothes’!

Peak Oil has arrived

Back in 2008, I heard about Peak Oil for the first time. Very much out of the mainstream at that time, the theory, that world oil supplies would imminently peak in terms of accessibility, posited that this would occur sometime between 2006- 2020.

The consequences of this peak are numerous, technical and intrinsic to the way in which world economies are wired – in others words unpredictable. Nevertheless there are deemed to be indicators: fluctuation in oil price, recession, social unrest, foreign conflict.

If this sounds familiar its because it now seems as if world oil production actually peaked in 2005. Now we’re on a downward trajectory of demand continually outstripping supply, ever more desperate extraction techniques (Alberta Tar sands, Gulf of Mexico), resource wars (Irag, Afghanistan, Libya and now Iran) and price hikes.

Don’t take my word for it. The future has arrived and you might want to prepare for a bit of a bumpy ride. Look up Peak Oil to find out more.

The Book of English Magic - a review

I must confess I approached this book with not just a little trepidation. Anyone who has ever taken a passing glance at the ‘Mind, Body & Spirit’ section of any bookstore and seen the plethora of titles around this subject might understand my reticence. Many such books make claims about encounters with magical beings, angels and spirits, (it’s not that I doubt the existence of these, only the sincerity of the authors’ belief); many about impending apocalypse, whilst some of them take some fairly hefty and serious concepts such as Hermeticism and attempt to boil them down into ‘secrets’ easily digestible for the modern consumer.

 

How refreshing then for a tome of this nature to be set out so simply, written with such clarity by Psychologist and writer Philip Carr-Gomm (chosen leader of the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids) and Richard Heygate, and referenced so heavily with resources that the reader is more than enabled to investigate further for themselves. The English Book of Magic successfully transcends the ocean of double speak and down-right gobbledegook usually a given in Occult literature. Even if you normally approach this subject with a great deal of cynicism, you’ll find this book a fascinating look at an enduring historical phenomenon - peculiar but not unique to these islands.

The 12 sections of the book, corresponding to different eras of magical belief and occult practice that have continued unabated in the undercurrent of our culture for several thousand years, are neatly interspersed with fascinating stories and life experiences of various practitioners of these spiritual arts. Beginning with the roots of ancient Druidism emanating from the dim and misty vistas of ancient England; a landscape so engagingly evoked that you can almost taste the medicine from Merlin’s cauldron; travelling through the tumultuous Saxon invasion, the mysteries of the Dark Ages (of course there was no such era when viewed from a certain point of view), the Renaissance obsession with the use of Alchemy and Magick as tools to understand and master nature, into the comparatively recent Victorian revival of spirituality culminating in  fascinating overview of how all of these factors and influences have converged today into a dizzying array of cults, movements, philosophies and beliefs. The contradictions, borrowings, arguments, trials, burnings and mystery are all here. It’s a story seldom told but intrinsic to much of the more mundane knowledge we’re familiar with – our current beliefs, both religious and scientific are but a continuum from earlier modes of thought after all,

Set against our current addiction to materialism and our post Enlightenment mindset, whose mechanistic worldview jostles uneasily with what we actually experience within the world (you can’t treat a human like you would a machine and expect good results, humans specialise in stories and myth not productivity), The Book of English Magic is a beautifully written counterpoint to the consumerist dead-end we’ve found ourselves up against. Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate some of the knowledge our forbearers mastered?   

But the joy of this book doesn’t rest only in providing a breath of fresh air or journey through the ages. Carr-Gomm and Heygate are at pains to illustrate Magick as a living belief system illustrating this fact beautifully with biographies, interviews and anecdotes from practitioners of these sacred arts and profiles of some of the biggest names of the ages. Thus you have experiences of people like Dowser Peter Taylor recounted alongside the story of a modern Druid -‘Adrian’ from Bristol - an alchemist from Wales and my personal favourite; Shaman Peter Aziz who irresistibly sketches out his initiation into the other worlds.

If you still need help being drawn in, every chapter includes a ‘things to do’ section which, as I alluded to earlier, helpfully details everything from preparing herbal remedies to locating local sites of interest or books and internet sites to continue research; the book is as much guidebook as it is grimoire adding much to its already deep appeal. Highly recommended!